Dairy Day planned for Saturday

Thursday

Aug 30, 2012 at 12:00 PM

By Roland Stoy

rstoy@thedailyreporter.comQUINCY — Like many area farmers, Glenn Preston has been praying, hard, for rain all summer.But he said on Monday he is hoping it will not rain for a few hours on Saturday, Sept. 1, when his farm family and friends will be putting on the third annual Dairy Day.The public is invited to 1097 East Central Road between 1 and 4 p.m., when there will be hayride tours of their dairy operation, activities for children and free ice cream.Preston said the ice cream is quality, coming from Custer’s, near Reading. Last year, they went through 45 gallons.Anywhere from 50-70 volunteers will be helping in not only dishing out ice cream, but in conducting the tours, meeting with the public and in general managing the logistics of the big event.Many hundreds have attended the previous events.Preston said there will be giveaway bags with coloring books and crayons and cookbooks, courtesy of the American Dairy Association.The volunteers will be wearing blue t-shirts, which will say "Farmers Care."Farmers-care.com notes changes in their website, and says, "We still strive to provide information directly from Michigan farmers, straight to the consumer, showcasing how fantastic Michigan agriculture truly is. We want to show you what farmers do on a daily basis to ensure we have safe, healthy food to eat; fuel for transportation, electricity and heat; and fiber for our clothes and home furnishings - all while being good stewards of the environment and caring for their animals."The t-shirts were seen at the first Entertainment Under the Stars concert in July, as Farmers Care representatives and Branch Area Career Center FFA youth passed out free malts before Jim Stout, Laurie Corless and Peter Fair took the stage. The malts were also courtesy of Bates Tractor and Equipment and the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.Meanwhile, Preston said they have been getting some rain, around four inches at their place in the last month, which will help the thousand acres of corn and alfalfa they raise to feed their herd of over 500.The public will be able to meet some of those cows and their children on Saturday.The event will not be hard to find, around 5 miles south on Ray-Quincy Road from the main intersection in Quincy, and then around a mile to the east on Central Road. Special occasionGlenn noted the family patriarch, Stanley Preston, will be celebrating a 91st birthday in October.